This invention is in the field of deives for illuminating the scales, dials, or faces of indicating instruments. In particular, the invention arose because of the need for compass card and needle illumination. Various means have been proposed for providing such illumination, and include U.S. Pat. No. 2,388,276, which shows a combination flashlight and compass. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,388,476, 3,786,571, and 4,341,023 show combinations of lenses and incandescent filament light bulbs. All of these combinations require relatively large amounts of power, are relatively large (with respect to the compass size) and are fragile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,994 uses a light-emitting diode to illuminate the face of a watch or the like, but does not teach how it may be applied to a compass. Obviously, since a compass depends on the magnetic field of the earth for its operation, any magnetic field introduced by current-carrying wires for a light bulb or light-emitting diode might cause undesirable compass needle deflections and must be carefully routed. The standard unmounted compass presently in use by the U.S. Army avoids these problems by employing tritium excited phosphors. This compass has its own problems, such as being difficult to read because of low luminosity of such phosphors. Moreover, this problem is exacerbated with the normal decrease in radioactivity of the tritium. Finally, unusuable compasses are not repairable and are not readily disposible, but must be handled as RAD waste. The instant invention avoids all of the above problems and disadvantages, and may be retrofitted to existing compasses or applied to other indicating instruments.